When working with rim lights, or shooting into a significant backlight, glare becomes a serious issue. The typical solution to this problem is setting up flags on either side of your subject, but who needs flags when you have a spare piece of Coroplast sitting around your studio?
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Want to attach your smartphone to your tripod without buying a special mount? Two large binder clips can do the trick. Simply attach the clips to your tripod and then use the handles to cradle your phone. playstationfive has uploaded a step-by-step tutorial over on Imgur.
iPhone Tripod Mount using Binder Clips (via Lifehacker via Make)
After cleaning out his garage, photo enthusiast Drew decided to convert it into a makeshift studio by creating a mount to hang seamless white paper or a muslin from the rafters. He used ceiling hooks, chains, S hooks, and a 12-foot-long dowel.
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This might look like a pile of garbage, but it’s actually one of the homemade camera used by photographer Miroslav Tichý from the 1960s until 1985. He made his camera bodies from things he had on hand, including plywood, road asphalt, and thread spools. His lenses would be created from toilet paper tubes with custom lenses created from Plexiglas that had been sanded with sandpaper and then polished with toothpaste and cigarette ashes. For his enlarger, he used sheets of metal, two fence slats, a light bulb, and a tin can. Tichý used his equipment to take thousands of stalker-ish pictures of strangers (mostly women) in the Czech Republic. You can find some of his work here.
(via Flavorwire)
When the grip on his Canon Rebel T2i finally peeled and warped beyond repair, NYU computer science and mechanical engineering student Rob Huebner decided to go the DIY route. He found a beat up leather shoe, cut the proper shape out of it, and attached the leather graft onto his DSLR using rubber cement.
Image credit: Photograph by Rob Huebner and used with permission
Flickr user Nick Cool was shooting in Machu Picchu, Perú on a sunny day when he made a helpful discovery: his coffee cup’s sleeve doubled nicely as a makeshift lens hood. While it’s probably not the best thing to use on a regular basis, it’s a clever MacGyver-ish idea that got the job done. For less-ghetto sun shielding that’s just as portable, you can look into printing/making your own lens hood or a nifty new product called the Flex Lens Shade.
(via DYIP)
Image credit: Weatherized Nikon in Peru by Nick Cool and used with permission
YouTube filmmaker Casey Neistat‘s DSLR recently took a tumble, breaking a piece off of the built-in lens hood of his Sigma lens. Instead of sending the lens in for repairs, Neistat decided to do a thrifty repair himself. After finding a similar-sized jar lid on some peanut butter at a local grocery store, he created a replacement hood himself by drilling a large hole and a couple small screw holes into the lid. He calls the project “The Peanut Butter Solution”.
Here’s a super cool trick: instead of buying a special macro lens for your smart phone, simply use a drop of water! Carefully place a drop of water over your lens, carefully invert the phone, and voila — instant macro shots with the cheapest lens you’ll ever own. Alex Wild over at Scientific American has more details on the technique and some great sample shots taken with it.
Transform Your iPhone Into a Microscope: Just Add Water (via Gizmodo)
Want to get closer to animals when doing wildlife photography? If there’s access, your car can do the trick by serving as a photography blind. Scott Bourne of Photofocus writes,
For whatever reason, most wildlife (birds included) won’t spook or flush when they see a car. Open the car door, step out of the car, now that’s a totally different situation. But as long as you stay in the car, your chances of getting close enough to wildlife to get the shot are improved by 90%.
(via Photofocus)
Image credit: CAR STUCK IN SAND – BULL ISLAND by infomatique
Photography enthusiast Maciej Pietuszynski jumped into tilt-shift photography recently by building a do-it-yourself tilt-shift lens out of an old 50mm f/1.8 prime lens, a shower head, and a rubber glove. The process isn’t for the faint of heart — it involves disassembling the lens. You can see some of the resulting photographs in this Flickr set.
Shower head, rubber glove, 50mm…tilted!!! (via DYIP via MAKE)
